Washing a deck in the rain

Wood Restoration
1

So i have a deck to wash this weekend an it looks like its going to rain. Would i still be able to wash a deck in the rain?

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

2

It depends on a couple of factors. If you are cleaning only and you need a 10 minute dwell time then the rain can’t be hard enough that it washes away your solution before it has time to work effectively. If you are stripping and you need a 30 minute dwell time then it can’t be much more than a misty rain. We get the wood wet so it really is a matter of gauging the effective dwell time needed.

3

Thanks! I will have to keep an eye to see how bad it gets… What tip is best to use? An what chemical do you washing and stripping?

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

4

I always use a 40 degree tip and stay about 6-12 inches away from the wood on average. I use percarbonate bleach for cleaning when I can. Some jobs do require chlorine bleach solutions with a detergent and water. For stripping I use sodium hydroxide products for stripping oils and solvent base products like Peel Away, Smart Strip, or Strip It for hard to remove water base coatings.

5

So unfortunately i didn’t get a picture of it dry but you might still be able to see the green that the deck was covered in from the trees. How did i do?

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

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ImageUploadedByPressure Washing Resource1396053409.389395.jpg768×1024 753 KB

6

Looks good. don’t see any stop marks and stuff like that. It looks like you could use a brightener on there. Have you seen it dry? That’s the real test. What did you end up cleaning it with?

7

Used f18 (wish wasn’t really necessary), and eliminator. Didn’t used the brightener… Not sure why. I just hope it doesn’t dry an the green comes back. For the most part though the green looks gone. What’s the odds of this drying an looking like crap?

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

8

Haven’t seen it dry, i just finished it an hour ago.

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

9

Definitely should have used a brightener with F18, it looks like you rinsed it down and hopefully it rains some more. It’s not going to look like crap when it dries. That’s when you can really see how it came out and you will notice all the little stuff. I am sure the customer will be happy. You said they were sealing it themselves. That’s cool.

10

How do you usually apply the brightener?

I was going to use my pump sprayer but it broke so i just left it alone. Would have liked to use it but she mostly just wanted to wash all the green off which it looks like i accomplished…

BermudaOne Pressure Washing & Restorations

Richmond, VA
804-617-1488

11

I used a pump up for my first year. Then I made a sprayer with a 1.6 gpm 45 psi shurflo pump/battery/cart/pail/hose. A lot of times I used the home depot deck cleaner as my brightener. I told you that it is an oxalic based cleaner and you can downstream it. I had a large supply of citric acid that I used for months and months.I also used my homemade sprayer to apply sealer. I almost always used sodium percarbonate to clean. I only used sodium hydroxide to strip decks, it is way too harsh to the wood to use as a simple cleaner IMHO.